No. 1 Bulldogs Look To End Spring Break On A High Note

Mar 15, 2012

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – During its second week of spring break, the No. 1 Yale women's sailing team finally got some real vacation. Able to take their minds off sailing for a little while, team members went their separate ways to spend time with family and friends for four days. On Friday though, the Bulldogs are scheduled to continue where they left off, in Annapolis, Md. The women's team will hit the water on Friday for a day of practice to prepare for this weekend's Interconference regatta at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Friday's practice day will take place on the Severn River using boats provided by the US Naval Academy. Yale's coed team as well as sailors from Navy will also be on the water for the Lady Bulldogs to train against. At the end of the day, four representatives from the women's team will pack up their rental car and hit the road for St. Mary's City. Competitors are expected to report to the regatta venue by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Currently, weather.com forecasts for winds to be out of the north-northeast at around eight miles per hour on Saturday and out of the southeast at less than five miles per hour on Sunday. Of course, wind forecasts are not always the most reliable, but the Bulldogs hope that the weatherman is at least correct with respect to his predicted temperatures. Highs approaching the 70s are forecasted for the weekend.

Competing for the Bulldogs in A division this weekend will be sophomore skipper Marlena Fauer along with sophomore crew Eugenia Custo Greig. This will be the sophomore duo's second regatta of the spring season. At their official spring debut, the Charleston Women's Interconference Regatta, Fauer and Custo Greig finished second in A division, helping the Bulldogs to a second-place overall finish and earning themselves recognition as the New England district (NEISA) women's sailors of the week.

Two more Bulldogs with early spring success stories will be representing Yale In B division this weekend. Freshman skipper Morgan Kiss and sophomore crew Amanda Salvesen also raced together on the first weekend of their season when they finished second in A division at the USF Women's Intersectional. Two weeks later they finished third in B division at the Eckerd Intersectional, contributing to Yale's second-place finish overall.

Although she was sailing with a different skipper, Salvesen finished first place in B division at the Navy Women's Interconference Regatta last weekend. That performance earned her and junior skipper Emily Billing recognition as NEISA women's sailors of the week, making it two weeks in a row that this honor has been given to Yale sailors.

This weekend the four underclassman sailors mentioned above are looking to prove, once again, that Yale is the No. 1 women's sailing team in the country. Fifth place was a reasonable finish last weekend at the Navy Women's considering the particularly challenging conditions and extra-large fleet, but top-three finishes are what have helped the team sustain its position at the top of the rankings. The fleet at the St. Mary's Interconference Regatta this weekend will again contain many top-seeded teams that the Bulldogs are hungry to prove themselves against.